Editor's Note

The Charge

Opening Statement

I have been seeing previews for this movie for years on every Troma disc I've
reviewed and finally it's time to see what all the fuss is about.

Facts of the Case

For Arbie (Jason Yachanin), his whole life revolves around his fetching
girlfriend (Kata Graham). But after an evening of passion goes horribly awry in
an ancient Native American burial ground, the two split up and, much to his
chagrin, she turns to lesbianism, a fact he discovers at a protest of the new
American Chicken Bunker fast food franchise. In an impulsive act to upset her
and her new left-wing protest friends, Arbie takes a job as a counter-boy, just
in time for the grand opening.

Unfortunately, the fanfare is quickly ruined when the Native American
sprits, angered by the fact that the restaurant was built on their sacred
ground, infect the chicken with their diabolical mojo and promptly turn anyone
who eats it into raving chicken zombies. It will be up to Arbie to repel the
chicken-dead horde, get the girl and survive a disgusting encounter with a giant
penis monster.

Ah, Troma.

The Evidence

The wait has been worth it. I wouldn't have thought that Lloyd Kaufman could
have met my expectations after the seemingly endless hype built around this
flick, but Poultrygeist is humongous fun and easily the best Troma movie
I've ever seen. And yes, I know that sounds like a back-handed compliment, but
for all of its negative stigma, Troma has turned out some memorable exploitation
romps (The Toxic Avenger, Tromeo and Juliet, Terror Firmer). But this…this
eclipses them all by a long shot.

In fact, take away the Troma brand if you like andPoultrygeist still
stands tall as a hilarious, disgusting, fluid-drenched, and, yes, smart genre
picture and is a must-see for anyone even slightly drawn towards slapstick
horror lunacy. It could have been so easy for this thing to misfire, but Kaufman
delivers over and over and it's a rarity for a gag to fall flat (itself a
miracle once you watch the feature-length behind-the-scenes documentary that
chronicles pretty much the most dysfunctional clusterf*ck of a production ever
seen).

This is easily the goopiest Troma movie ever and ranks right up there with
bloodshed classics like Dead Alive
and Bad Taste as far as cubic liter of Karo
syrup spilled. While the set-ups may be obviously fake at some points, it fits
perfectly well with the tongue-in-cheek atmosphere of the film. For example, a
guy falls into a grinder and the kitchen just gets soaked in blood, another is
struck with explosive diarrhea (and it is explosive), a peeping tom in a
graveyard has his intestines ripped through his anus, there's a group vomit
scene, and the big zombie massacre is loaded with some of the most creative,
messy gags you've ever seen. Kaufman apparently set out to make the bloodiest
movie ever and a valid argument can be made that he succeeded.

All of this would of course be hugely disturbing if Poultrygeist
played it straight as a hard horror movie, but this is a splatter comedy from
start to finish. The splatter is certainly there and, thankfully, so is the
humor. The script is wry and funny and gloriously politically incorrect. Kaufman
and company go after all manner of targets, taboo or not, like drunken Native
Americans, suicide bombing Islamic fundamentalists, "left-wing lesbian
liberals," Christians, the corporate food chain complex and a whole lot
more. Sure the jokes are crude and sophomoric, but they're funny and who cares
anyway? This is a movie that features a morbidly obese man rolling around in his
own liquefied poop as a comedic centerpiece.

That's all I'm going to say and in fact I fear I may have already said too
much, though my hope is that the description has pushed any fence-sitters over
to the "want-to-see" camp. It's a near-perfect splatter romp and
judging by the amount of blood, sweat, tears and personal retirement funds that
went into making the movie, it deserves to be supported.

The three-disc edition is loaded. Disc One brings the feature, which looks
fine in its 35mm, vintage-like 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen transfer. Just the
fact that it's Troma and anamorphic deserves a thumbs-up. An interesting
commentary from Kaufman and co-writer Gabe Friedman accompanies. Disc Two offers
the meat of the bonus materials. The "Poultry in Motion" full-length
documentary is fascinating viewing, mainly because the production appeared to be
one extended nightmare and the very fact that they were able to get not just a
coherent movie out of it all but a pretty great one no less is a miracle. Other
extras include three deleted scenes, a handful of behind-the-scenes segments and
music videos. The third disc, a karaoke collection of the film's songs, is
relatively disposable.

The Rebuttal Witnesses

Speaking of which, that's my only misgiving about the film: the musical
numbers. They're not dealbreakers and some of the lines are funny and it allows
for more gratuitous nudity but, I don't know, they just seemed a bit too wannabe
clever and contrived.

Closing Statement

Poultrygeist is the real deal. Track it down.

The Verdict

Not guilty, and please note I made it through this entire review without a
single cheap poultry gag.